Drug and Alcohol Liaison Practitioner

The Drug and Alcohol Liaison Practitioner will be an integral member of the Drug and Alcohol Care Team, which provides care and treatment for patients with drug and alcohol misuse issues in an acute hospital environment.
The post holder will work collaboratively within the Drug and Alcohol Team across wider multidisciplinary teams within the hospital and community in order to support and assist the patients' health care journey, the Drug and Alcohol liaison Practitioner will assess the needs of the individual client and facilitate the appropriate channels of support whilst in the hospital and be pivotal on engaging them in community drug and alcohol teams., The Drug and Alcohol liaison Practitioner will provide support to care teams across both Bedford and Luton and Dunstable hospital sites (each post will be based primarily at one hospital). Working in conjunction with colleagues, service users and stakeholders to provide an efficient service.
They will assess and treat patients on site at the hospital and facilitate timely referral into community drug and alcohol services, reducing attrition and ensuring joined up care between the hospital and community services across Bedfordshire (including Luton)
The Drug and Alcohol liaison Practitioner will provide training to hospital staff on screening and brief interventions and support the Drug and Alcohol hospital Care Team in developing and delivering education to Trust employees in the specialist of drug and alcohol misuse.
The post holder will exercise initiative and judgement using acquired skills and knowledge, always maintaining confidentiality. The post holder will provide an empathic and sensitive point of contact for service users and to signpost into other services and integrate care with other providers of health services. It is essential for the post holder to develop strong professional relationships with colleagues, acute hospital trust staff, and staff from external agencies., · Build partnerships and therapeutic relationships through safe, effective and non-discriminatory communication taking account of differences, capability and needs of individuals.
· Maintain a high standard of professional behaviour and ensure effective and timely communication with all members of the multidisciplinary team, patients, carers and relatives.
· Communicate with patients and their relatives/carers, making reports and liaising as required with medical staff and other members of the multidisciplinary team both verbally and in writing. Ensure instructions/information is understood and if required acted upon. Be mindful of own and others body language and barriers which may affect communication.
· Provide support, reassurance and guidance to patients and their relatives
· Obtain verbal consent from the patient before any referral or intervention takes place
· Apply the principles of information governance and patient confidentiality to all aspects of your role.
· To provide a point of contact for service users
· Accurately record telephone messages and action appropriately
· Provide effective communication and problem solving both face to face and via telephone
· Be sympathetic and sensitive to the requirements of staff, service users when communicating by telephone or face to face, including dealing with a difficult situation and attend departmental meetings on a regular basis
· Contribute to building effective teamwork in exchanging views, ideas and communicating effectively
· To attend multidisciplinary meetings to discuss referrals, frequent attendees or patients in treatment.
· To lead in management of intoxicated patients and patients in acute alcohol withdrawal.
· To escalate any concerns to the Lead Specialist Nurse in a timely manner.
· To develop strong professional relationships with colleagues, Trust employees, Trust volunteers and staff from external agencies.
· Work collaboratively as part of an integrated team
Making Things Better
Quality Improvement is a key part of our work to improve our services and refine how we do things. We have a global reputation for our quality improvement work and we don't stand still! So we offer a fantastic opportunity for our staff to learn, lead and contribute towards improving our services.
We launched our Five Year Strategy in April 2018, which identified four main strategic outcomes to improve: population health outcomes, experience of care, staff experience and improve value. This complements the NHS Long Term Strategy and sets out our direction of travel.
Our Community
We provide a wide range of community health and mental health inpatient services to children, young people, adults of working age, and older adults in The City of London, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Bedfordshire and Luton. We also provide psychological therapy services to the London Borough of Richmond, and provide Forensic services to the whole of North East London. We provide services in urban and rural settings, sometimes in our inpatient units, but mostly in the community close to where people live. Integrated care is key in making the best use of resources and providing effective care.
Aiming High
We were rated 'Outstanding' by the CQC in 2016, were proud to be rated 'Outstanding' again in 2018 and continue to be rate 'Outstanding' in 2021.. We were named in the HSJ's Top 10 best places to work in healthcare and were voted Provider Trust of the Year in 2018.
Staff and Service Users United
We strive to ensure that staff feel valued by the Trust and as they are truly pivotal in delivering better outcomes for our patients and service users. Our aspiration is to help to make ELFT the best place to work. This Trust is clinician-led and provides the highest possible level of clinical expertise throughout its services. We pride ourselves on our service user involvement. A service user will be on your assessment centre and interview panel if you are invited to meet us.
We especially welcome people with lived experience of health difficulties, with insight and understanding of different backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles in our population as we believe that this will equip staff to deliver a high standard of care to our service users and patients.
Diversity
ELFT Is committed to being a diverse organisation and our workforce is reflective of the population and communities we serve. We believe that having colleagues with a range of backgrounds and life experiences enriches and adds value to the outcomes we have set out to achieve. Having partnered and endorsed by organisations who are representative and experts in various areas of equality and diversity, we can ensure we are meeting the pre-set standards all the way from recruitment stage throughout the career journey of our employees by being accessible, having fair inclusive practices and a host of staff networks to support, nurture and celebrate our valued staff in the workplace.
Other reasons to apply
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that's job share, part time or another flexible pattern.
As part of the relocation scheme we presently have, the Trust could support you with offering up to £10,000 for removal and associated expenses. This is subject to change and terms and conditions apply.

ELFT has long been recognised as a centre of excellence for mental and health care, innovation and improvement. So it is a very exciting time for you to come and work for us. Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations., Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.